Publishers Weekly
02/26/2018
Ultramarathoner Jurek (Eat & Run) shares the grueling story of his quest to run the Appalachian Trail—“2,189 miles while climbing and descending a million vertical feet”—faster than anyone before him. Much of the power in Jurek’s writing comes from his honesty about his limitations and how his expectations have changed as he’s aged: “I’m forty and I need to feel what it’s like to go to the edge again and go further.” As he moves north from Georgia to his destination in Maine over the course of six weeks, Jurek details the “tug-of-war between me and my younger self,” as he deals with fatigue, injury, hunger, and various well-wishers he meets on the way who often slow him down. His writing evokes the terrain: he feels as “free as the grassy fields rolling beneath me out to the Blue Ridge horizon”; while running in stormy weather, he “ran into mud pits unlike anything I had ever seen.” His wife, Jenny, who accompanied him for the entire journey in a black cargo van converted into a “home on wheels,” contributes passages throughout. Jurek’s exciting narrative presents the pain and joys of ultra-running at the end of a long and successful running career. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"Pure suspense, adventure, and inspiration. When Scott Jurek went into the woods to create his masterpiece, no one knew if he would make it back out again. He was America's greatest ultra athlete, a runner whose brains and singular intensity led him to years of extraordinary victories. But this time, Jurek was pushing himself into realms more dangerous than Death Valley, more treacherous than Mexican canyons, and only slightly less crazy than the time he chased after a wild bear. His story of plunging into the wilderness in pursuit of a dream is both heartwrenching and spellbinding."—Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes
"Scott Jurek's record-setting journey on the Appalachian Trail was the most punishing, most demanding, most grueling feat I've ever personally witnessed. By mile 2,000, he was a hollowed-out, broken-down carapace of a person. And unless he found something, some way not just to keep going but to speed up, he was going to miss the record. Over those final 200 miles, I watched him dig deeper than I thought humanly possible: he not only claimed the fastest known time, but - most impressively - never failed to greet a fellow blaze-hiker with a smile and a cheery, 'How far ya' going?' Now, reading his immersive and engaging book, where he asks and pushes himself to find the answers to all of the 'whys,' I almost don't want his suffering to end, just so I can enjoy another chapter."
—Aron Ralston, adventurer and author of 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
"When Scott first shared with me that the AT would be his next record setting challenge, I was in awe at the stamina it would require and the precision in planning and preparation that it would ultimately entail. Scott, and Jenny, are both living proof that what you dream you can also make manifest. Read this book and redefine your own personal limits."
—Christy Turlington Burns, Founder & CEO Every Mother Counts
"What sucks you in is the fact that the Jureks' daily struggles matter. Their candid sharing of each day's minutia places you on the trail alongside them."—American Trail Running Association
"North chronicles the highs and lows of an epic journey, both inward and outward."—New York Post
"North will cement Jurek's position and reputation. It is a heartfelt, honest, exciting account of an inner, metaphorical journey."—The Daily Camera
"Like his first book, Eat and Run, Jurek's journey is nothing less than inspirational."
—Live Kindly
